Zed Shed Cymru Today

[colb]

Had a session with @bombur and his M43 1.9 that needed some love and attention, first was attention to the oil leak that we found previously comming from the oil filter to block joint. Armed with a new gasket, relief valve and new O rings we set about taking it apart, air box and Maf removed, belts removed from pullys then alternator removed followed by itsmounting bracket. Finally took the six bolts out of the oil filter housing after draining the filter. Disaster struck at this point with the plastic water hose flange taking a knock with the filter chain wrench which broke it off. Close exam revealed it was very brittle from repeated heat cycles so could have failed sooner of later. Soldiered on with the oil gasket fix and used blue Hylomar sealant on the gasket faces so it didnt slip when putting it back on. the inner O ring was very flat and past its best, the outer one was not far behind, main gasket seemed sill intact but new one was installed. All put back together and the pully belts replaced and tensioned. Paul has Aircon so second outer belt had to be tensioned using its eccentric idler pully after the belt was put back on. Idler bearing covers clipped back in. A couple of degreasing sessions as we went cleared up the oily mess the leak had left down the side of the block and underneath. Onto solving the broken water flange, only option was to take mine off the Z3 and replace it on Pauls so he could get home, will have to order a replacement tomorrow to put back on mine. Quick top up of coolant and ran it up to temp using the bleed screw to let the small amount of air out of the system. Replace a couple of lengths of small vaccum hose at the front we noticed were perishing then put in a new aerial grommit and a replacement aeriel unit, the old unit had a broken bulb at the top where it locates into the grommit. Little bit of silican spray on the grommit had it snap into place followed by the replacement unit being poked up and located inside the grommit. Radio now working as a quick test proved. Also noticed that the secondary air pump pipe was split and in need of replacement, taped up for the time being as was the vaccum pipe offshoot from the post Maf bellows to the fuel rail, it was split at its joint so will need replacement, only noticed it as it was hanging off its plastic connector, bit of tape secured it as a temporary repair.
Paul made it home reports temp guage at 12 o'clock and steady will check level when cold tomorrow.
Next session will replace the duff hoses and then do a gearbox and diff fluid change, also plan to jet wash the engine bay and underside to sparkle it up.

Selection of parts we replaced and in the case of the flange broke.
There are some decent how to's on You Tube to have a look at for the gasket change.

 

[bombur]

Had a really good day at Zedshed Cymru. Thanks @colb for getting to grips with the leak, was like a jigsaw what with things that came out easily but didnt go back as easy. Shame about the snapped pipe - but that could have happened on the M4, so better yesterday than another day. Also great to have the radio working thanks for the parts @spurs fan in a coupe. Looking forward to next visit soon for the gearbox and diff oil changes as well as some new pipes to be fitted.

Ready for some care.

First bit out.

Cleaning off the underneath

Bits out and now onto the culprit

THEN........ oh ****!....******!....****!

Cleaning up the filter housing

Theres the culprit

 

[Kieran Monaghan]

Thank you for sharing this very illuminating report.
It clearly highlights how the various parts of an old engine perish and fail with age.
The big worry for me is how many plastic items or rubber seals or hoses are under bonnet and after 20 years could fail at any time.
It's probably irrespective of mileage. It's probably years in an oily hot environment that reduces the life of these parts.
It would be interesting to consider if we all should consider replacing a list of plastic parts now as preventative measure if our car is 20 yrs old?
And then indeed , what parts should we replace?
I wonder if anyone has formalised the list...?

Looking forward to hear your oil change report on Gearbox and diff. As I want to do this activity soon.

Keep up the good work.

 

[colb]

This was the second car I found deteriating plastics on, the first was the plastic cam cover on a 2.2 that had developed cracks around No4 plug well which was letting in unmetered air to the engine and playing havoc with the fuel trims. The plastic was very brittle and when poked around it just started to crumble. Replacement cover without cracks solved that one. The plastic flange on the current Z3 was in much the same condition, brittle and crumbling, it snapped clean off the mounting base. Same must be said of all of the rubber and plastic hoses across the engines now they are the age they are, pays to replace any duff ones you find.